To: ynot who wrote (5032 ) 2/8/1999 10:55:00 PM From: Paul J Osborn Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 10081
Seems Everybody's got a internet phone interface, is it VUI, Is it Motorola, Does Cisco make phones?, guess they do now, it must be real, it must be. It's posted on Yahoo message board. Monday February 8, 7:35 pm Eastern Time FOCUS-Cisco, Motorola in wireless Internet pact (Recasts lede, adds comments from conference call, changes dateline; pvs NEW ORLEANS) CHICAGO, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Remember when surfing meant going to the beach instead of sitting in front of a computer? Internet junkies will soon be able to surf the Net anywhere -- even at the beach -- with a new wireless Internet service designed by leading computer-networking company Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO - news) and wireless phone maker Motorola Inc. (NYSE:MOT - news). The two companies said on Monday they would invest up to $1 billion over the next four to five years to deliver a wireless Internet. Some services may be available as early as August, while most should be up and running by the end of the year, the companies said in a conference call. ''This extends the Internet to a world without wires,'' Cisco Executive Vice President, Don Listwin, said in a statement. Cisco, of San Jose, Calif., and Motorola, of Schaumburg, Ill., plan to jump-start a new category of products and services by broadcasting IP (Internet Protocol) signals over the air anytime and anywhere. The idea is to unite the convenience and mobility of wireless devices with the power to access large amounts of information from the Internet, including data, voice and video communications. ''The tethered world has really slowed people down,'' Listwin said in the conference call. Through this deal, Cisco and Motorola are trying to break into the potentially lucrative wireless Internet business and keep pace with telecommunications equipment supply groups such as Lucent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:LU - news). Lucent in November bought WaveAccess for $50 million, giving it access to radio technology for wireless Internet services. Motorola and Cisco hope to capitalize on the explosive growth in Internet and wireless subscribers, Bo Hedfors, president of Motorola's network solutions sector, said in the conference call with reporters and analysts. ''Today we have around 800 million wire line subscribers in the world, 200 million wireless and 200 million Internet users,'' Hedfors said. ''We expect that, by the year 2005, there will be 1 billion wire line, 1 billion wireless and 1 billion Internet users. What this alliance with Cisco and Motorola is all about is to make sure that (wireless and Internet) grow together and we create a wireless Internet.'' Motorola and Cisco said plan to invite other companies to use their technology to expand the wireless Internet network. ''We will present this new architecture as a white paper in May of this year to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to be a part of this,'' Hedfors said. Other wireless industry leaders such as Sprint Corp. (NYSE:FON - news) Corp., Cellnet, Nextel Communications Inc. (Nasdaq:NXTL - news) and AirTouch Communications Inc. (NYSE:ATI - news) have voiced support for the new effort, Cisco and Motorola said. Motorola on Monday teamed up with Nextel and Netscape Communications Corp. (Nasdaq:NSCP - news) to offer a wireless telephone package combining voice, data and Internet services. Shares Motorola rose $1.625 to $68.25, in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange, while Cisco's shares fell $1.50 to $99.75 on the Nasdaq.